Seegrid Corporation

Pittsburgh, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/10/2014 -- One of the most overlooked aspects of operating automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are the batteries, explained Seegrid’s Mitchell Weiss, Chief Operating Officer in the company’s blog. “We operate and maintain our personal vehicles with great care, but we really do not pay attention to the batteries until something goes wrong. Effective battery maintenance and operations will keep them working at their peak.”

Weiss made the case that running with a weak or damaged battery will affect productivity suggesting, “Flexible AGVs will declare errors, or worse, refuse to run. When batteries are weak, the voltage drops. This means that to do the same work, motors and wiring must carry more current. The result is higher heat affecting the life of the motor wiring, the bearings, the drive and control circuits, and the batteries. Heat is the enemy of electrical devices and batteries.”

Properly charging a battery requires three important steps: full charging, trickle charging, and resting. Allowing the charge to finish, and allowing the battery to cool down will result in the cells being fully charged, meaning the cells will have more capacity available after each charge.

Mitchell Weiss, Seegrid’s Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the engineering and manufacturing departments. Weiss is the co-author of Industrial Robotics: Technology, Programming and Applications. He holds 20 patents and earned several academic and industry awards, including being named to Industry Week's Top 50 R&D Professionals.